About Me

I was a reporter and columnist for 40 years for a chain of newspapers in the suburbs of Chicago. I'm a military veteran having served in the United States Army Combat Engineers (Cpl. E-4) and a Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

Watch video of Apache helicopters destroying enemy fighting positions above the village of Donga, Afghanistan. The positions were discovered a day earlier during an ambush of a patrol conducting a key leader engagement. With help from a forward observer, the helicopters identified the targets, ensuring no civilians were present and then destroyed the positions using their 30 mm cannon and rockets. Produced by Sgt. Justin Puetz with the 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

Alpha 1-87 IN 10th MTN charges head first into an enemy ambush. Skip to 2:20 to begin if you want. Basically we were on a cache search when we hit an enemy ambush from about 30-50 meters away, you can hear the bullets going by Gannon's head. Gannon leads his SAW gunner to fight through the ambush and sets up a base of fire for the rest of the squad to reach him from the open field, un-noticed valor that goes on everyday in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately the camera is knocked off mid way through the video and pretty much just for audio.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Coalition forces conducted a Traffic Control Point and patrolled the area of operations surrounding Combat Outpost Wilderness, in the KG Pass and Khowst Province of Afghanistan. Army Sgt Rachel Badgeley, brings us along.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

During a Fox News televised debate featuring Republicans candidates for President, a young soldier who served in the Iraq war was shown on video and admitted he was gay and the audience started to boo him.Read story and watch video here:GOP Finally Honest About What They Think of Troops

Afghanistan: The government's High Peace Council chairman, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated by a suicide bomber on 20 September in front of his Kabul residence — another council member also was wounded in the blast, which occurred in the high-security neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. Rabbani was responsible for leading negotiations with the Taliban on behalf of the Afghan government. Rabbani, a Tajik affiliated with the Northern Alliance, headed peace talks with the Pashtuns and was president in 1996 when the Taliban forced him to flee from Kabul. Thus, Rabbani's appointment conveyed a lack of sincerity to the Taliban and there was never any meetings on peace talks — which is precisely what Mullah Omar said in his greeting for Eid ul Fitr on 30 August.Nevertheless, the Taliban also have never been seriously interested in peace talks. Talks are not part of their strategy — waiting out the enemy is. The significance of this assassination is that it is the fourth attack this summer that demonstrates the government cannot protect the capital: when the government coalition is under attack in the capital, it is losing. Not even the Syrian government faces that condition.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

This is a sideshow of pics and video from our deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. 2010 was the deadliest year for coalition forces since Operation Enduring Freedom commenced in 2001. Everyday our truck platoon showed extreme courage and uncommon valor in the face of a formidable enemy force. As a whole our platoon encountered over 50 IED blasts. I was involved in 5 blasts personally. I am truly proud to have served with each and ever Marine and Sailor during OEF 10.2. From Delaram to Golestan and Gereshk to Sangin we traveled some of the most dangerous deserts on this planet in order to accomplish the mission. Day in and day out these young men showed what true American resolve means. I pray the lord blesses these young men and gives them peace after all we have been through. They are true American Patriots.

The reason I chose Young by Hollywood Undead was because of the lyrics. In the beginning they talk about how we are young and we are strong. We were born into this world when Afghanistan was at war and it seemed that the Cold War was going to tare us apart.

Then you see the destruction of Afghanistan as well as the WTC in an efforts to show how America is responsible for the rise of Taliban after the civil war that killed so many in the eary 1990's.

I show explosion after explosion in order to show everyone that IED where an everyday thing for us in Southern Afghanistan.

When you see any combat or aircraft providing close air support it is more than likely at FOB Jackson in the middle of Sangin proper. In November FOB Jackson was attacked by over 100 plus Taliban in an effort to overrun the perimeter. Luckily British Apaches and A-10's were in the skies above Sangin that day in order to provide close air support.

TATTOOED UNDER FIRE offers an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning U.S. soldiers, professing their pride, sharing their secrets and confessing their fears as they go under the needle at a tattoo parlor serving the Fort Hood community. Shot over four years, it has captured the chronological history of the stresses and fear these young men and women experience as they prepare for and return from war. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war, and the pressures life on Americas largest military base.

CLICK ON ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO SHOW BY A HELMET CAM IN SIDEWAYS POSITION

While securing a compound in Northern Afghanistan, US soldiers came under attack by RPG and small arms fire. Sorry, the helmet cam was mounted sideways so this is why the picture is as well. Unit is Alpha 1-87 10th MTN

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The civilian death toll from NATO attacks is rapidly rising in Afghanistan. And now locals in the northern Takhar province are claiming that the US-led foreign forces have not only killed civilians, but also raped two women.

It was June 1, and a crew from Charlie Company, known as Dustoff, 6th Battalion of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade had been called to pick up another wounded American in Marja. The two crew members — the crew chief, Sgt. Grayson Colby, and the medic, Sgt. Ian Bugh — stepped out and onto the soft dirt of a freshly tilled field

They were schoolchildren then, but they're on the front lines now. U.S. Marines in Afghanistan's Upper Gereshk Valley talk about their memories of 9/11 and how it affected their lives. See more stories in Stars and Stripes' report on the 10th anniversary of 9/11,

In the first of three programmes to mark ten years since the invasion of Afghanistan, key decision makers reveal the inside story of how the West was drawn ever deeper into the Afghan war. Reporter John Ware charts the history of a decade of fighting and looks at when the conflict may end.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

On this episode, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan meets with Soldiers in Kandahar, Colorado Airmen help deliver an important artifact that reminds us to never forget, Soldiers compare the Iraq of the past to the Iraq of today, Afghan security forces prosper in Laghman Province, and a Marine receives the highest military decoration.

Doesn't Michele Bachmann know there is no such thing as a "military victory" in Afghanistan?

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann speaks to US war vets and implies that troops were "half-heartedly" deployed to the war in Afghanistan.

"As President, my decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan will be based upon military considerations. They will not be based upon my own political considerations. "We must and we can win Afghanistan, but we must provide General (John) Allen the resources he deserves in order to win this conflict. In 2007 I spoke out in support of the surge that was brilliantly employed by David Petraeus, a national hero. And I will continue to support that strategy.